Wallflower

A Week Of Gratitude In Photographs, 7

1. Top Juice (alongside a good book). These guys can switch yogurt or dairy milk out for soy or almond milk or coconut juice, which makes them ace in my book. These guys are located near all my regular haunts (work, school, main library), which makes them hard to pass up. I treat myself once a week, instead of eating lunch.

2. Rocketboy Pizza. Oh my goodness. Chili pumpkin pizza with a ton of peppery rocket? Yes please. (However, they are so expensive! I can't really whine about that since I didn't pay, but these guys won't be a regular addition to our diet, unfortunately). Their gluten-free bases are one of the best I've had.

3. Weetbix (there are new gluten-free flavours!) Unfortunately, this flavour doesn't work as porridge, but it is nice cold.

4. Vegan barbecue. My sister hosted this one, and went to a lot of effort with everything. It was really yummy!

5. Naturally Falafel. Our neighbour (and Pete's childhood friend) gifted us these amazing falafels, and they really are to die for! I saw them at a small grocer in Randwick, but was out of money. They come in quinoa and pumpkin flavour too (they are on a must-buy list for my next shop).

6. Alison Park, Randwick. Pete had to go here to get his poor big toe some help (he had a severely ingrown toe-nail). He limped around here with me a little bit afterwards.

 

This week, it appears I am mostly grateful for food! It sounds about right. ;-)

 

 

Spring

The house that we live in now is the house that Pete grew up in (he moved when he was 14 to a house around the corner), and we are definitely a bit spoiled here. We have so much land, which translates to beautiful trees, room to run around, a huge variety and abundance of flowers, and home-grown veggies, fruit, and nuts.

All these photos have been taken in the last week and a half. I can't help but snap a few photographs here and there while out in the garden on a warm, sunny day. Sydney gets randomly hot, so it often feels like we've skipped Spring and gone straight to Summer.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

It's officially Spring, but we are still in soup mode. Unfortunately Peter has been suffering from wisdom teeth problems, and can't chew due to swelling and soreness. He has been so happy with my soups (although, more than once he has asked me to put Quorn in the blender...) We love vegetably, peppery soups such as this. This will be the last soup for a while, I promise!

 

1 large onion, chopped

2 cups pumpkin, chopped

1 cup cauliflower, chopped

1 tbsp powdered nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp pepper

1 cup milk

 

Fry the onion for three minutes over medium-high heat before adding the pumpkin and cauliflower. Fry, stirring frequently, before adding 2L of water, yeast, salt, and pepper.

Turn the temperature down to low and leave to simmer for twenty-five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer to a blender or food processor, add the milk, and blend until incorporated.

Serve, and enjoy.

A Week Of Gratitude In Photographs, 6

1. Good Food. I layered chickpea and red lentil burgers with lettuce, cucumber stripes, and roasted capsicum slices from a jar, with a touch of vegan mayo and hummus. The result was glorious to say the least.

2. Cherishing loved ones. I created a scavenger hunt for Peter for his birthday, and we didn't get the opportunity to do it until now. We did this one by candlelight. He had to find a book, and in the front cover was a clue to another book (such as quotations, cryptic hints, wordplay, or trivia). He was so pleased with some that he wrote a status about it, which is surprising, and strange to say the least!

3.Nice weather. We jumped from a very cold Winter to Summer, skipping Spring, in only a day, as is typical and atypical of Sydney. It never knows quite what to do with itself.

4. Composition & literature. My current math and composition book, with Frankie sandwiched inbetween. Frankie magazine is a favourite of mine, but I also kind of despise it at the same time, in a very strange fashion. I wish it was all articles, and no product placement.

5. Lovely views. My school has some of the most fantastic views, which I blog about regularly, but this one certainly takes the cake today. It is enchanting, almost haunting in its beauty. It was nice to walk through the twilight streets from the station to the school library (I'd been library-crawling all day in a search for wi-fi.)

6. Chia Pods, particularly the newest I've found: coffee. It was absolutely amazing. I did some browsing, and discovered they have so many flavours I have yet to try! If anyone finds their lemon & date flavour, holler!

7. Flowers! It really is Spring (I can't help but think of that as a proper noun). I am going to do a post specifically about all the lovely flowers about our home soon (and, the Royal Botanic Gardens, too!)

 

Creamy Broccoli-Rice Soup (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

(More soup, can you tell that part of the team is still sick?) When I first made this (a week ago now), I was so disappointed in it that I didn't blog about it. Realistically, that was probably just due to burning the bottom (we have a really cheap soup pot), because the rest was delicious. We kept going back for seconds (it makes two main meals, or four sides / small meals).

While I prefer beans as the main form of protein in my life, sometimes they can have a bad effect on your tummy, so I have been keeping to grains instead.

 

1 large onion (or 2 small), chopped

2 heads of broccoli, chopped (including the stalks)

1 cup of brown rice

1/2 L of soy milk

1 tbsp stock powder

salt & pepper (1:10)

1 tbsp of nooch per serve

 

Fry the onion and broccoli together for three to five minutes, just to soften.

Add four cups of boiling water, rice, and soy milk, and bring to the boil.

Turn down the heat to low and add the stock, salt, and pepper.

Stir occasionally at first for twenty-five minutes, and stir frequently for the final ten (more water - or soymilk - may need to be added).

After serving, stir in a tablespoon of nooch per bowl, and eat. Enjoy ~

A Week Of Gratitude In Photographs, 5

1) Blue skies, after a long rainy season, is a great backdrop while you study (Livo Library topfloor)

2) Sweet goodness! A great vegan haul, thanks to my lovely mamma-bear

3) Unexpected library finds. A fantastic series I intend on borrowing and indulging in soon!

4) Spring (Farewell to Winter!) I put away all my thick, heavy sweaters and jackets. Til next year, friends!

5) Emergency breakfasts. Orange juice and hashbrowns... for the calorie unconscious.

6) Lettuce! Our lettuce is flowering and going to seed, which we will soon harvest to plan next year. Nature, you amaze me!

7) Toffee cupcakes! Gluten and dairy-free, made by my wonderful mother-in-law for father's day. (Happy Father's Day guys!)

Wardrobe Conundrum (My Attempt At Minimalisation)

I am a huge fan of the blog Welcome Home Taylor, which led me to Un-Fancy, a blog about minimalist style and capsule wardrobes (to overly summarise).

Ever since I started reading Emily Martin's Inside A Black Apple, and her old, now abandoned, fashion blog, Some Girls Wander, I wanted to be a style blogger. This was strengthened by the discovery of A Beautiful Mess in early 2012, and LieBeMarlene, as well as the Snail & The Cyclops.

Up until just recently, I had the wardrobe of a style blogger. That is, the quantity, not the quality... And I wasn't even wearing a tenth of it.

Having a cluttered wardrobe is useless to a person with the style sense of your average two-year-old who really just wants their own way, and who is pleased by little more than your cringed face. I throw on pjs or yoga pants at home, dresses on my days off, and blouses / slacks / business skirts to work.

My personality doesn't match the minimalist lifestyle. I love keeping every little thing, and things quite often make me happy.

Example 1) Books: We have a home library, which is to say we have a whole double-room dedicated to books, books, and more books.

Example 2) Games: Peter and I have bonded over these from our very first date, and the enrich our lives, providing us with experiences outside our own. We have nearly every console set up and ready to go, and I love this.

Example 3) Owls: I have a pretty solid collection of owls, and I probably wouldn't change this for the world. They spread out over two rooms; the library and my little study. While I probably do regret some of them, deciding which ones to give away at this point would be like deciding which child to get rid. The attachment is there, and it is too late.

Example 4) Kitchen Appliances: A coffee maker, a sandwich press, a grill, waffle maker, mixer, ice-cream maker, Soup N'Go blender, dehydrator. They all have their season and uses. I could live without home-made ice-cream, waffles, and soup, but what kind of world would that be? What kind of "me" would I be? I love dabbling in the kitchen, and the combination of being a vegan and Coeliac means that if you ever want to eat something again, you are probably going to have to make it yourself. Case closed.

So, now that you've heard my defense of why things make me happy, I am here to say something contrary. Some things are completely unnecessary, and my wardrobe was one of them. Over a series of days, I tried and retried on things, and gave myself one last chance to wear them if I wanted to keep them. I made excuses not to wear them but keep them, but instead I turfed them out. (Who needs a 3-quarter cardigan? You are either wearing a cardigan because it is cold, or you take it off because it is hot. There is no room for inbetween items.)

There were, however, a few things I kept for sentimental reasons. The green-gray army jacket I will never wear (but was popular in my last year of high school), that I bought when I had a fascination with M*A*S*H, and wanted nothing more in my life than to marry Hawkeye or B.J.. The dress that I wore when I first met Peter (and now doesn't fit because my thyroid is temperamental, and ice-cream is nice). I folded them up and placed them in an old, vintage suitcase under the bed.

It took about a week all up, and I got rid of 60% of my wardrobe. I decided to wait until next winter to completely sort my winter clothes, since at the moment there are things I am purely not wearing due to my weight trouble (but I'll probably never be a size 6 again. I have made my peace with that.)

All along I was hoping to create a minimalist wardrobe, but that is impossible for me for a few reasons.

1) Sydney weather is crazy! We get Summer days in mid-Winter, and days below 20 degrees in the Summer. Spring and Autumn never have any idea what they are doing, which means dressing has to be done last minute (and is quite often wrong, regardless...)

2) I am a multi-faceted person who plays a number of roles and has a number of jobs. I need home items, gym gear, work outfits, casual outing clothes, and concert/opera-appropriate wear, meaning I need five wardrobes, regardless of season. I decided to only give hanging space to the last three, to help save room.

If you need help mimimalising your wardrobe, even if, like me,you wimp out from committing to it completely, check out the following articles:

How To Build A Capsule Wardrobe (Un-Fancy)

5 Tips For In-Store Shopping (Welcome Home)

Cleaning Out Your Closet (Welcome Home)

Don't forget to check out Taylor's blog regardless, because she is a wonderful girl with a lovely sense of style, humour, and a sweet-tooth with baking skills to match.

Best wishes, and enjoy!

Gluten-Free "Barley" Soup

The man was sick, and in need of something comforting, yummy, easy, and nutritious, and what does that bring to mind, other than soup? I am surprised by how fantastic this turned out to be. I thought I had made enough for two days, but we finished it off before the night was through! (It makes two man servings, apparently, or four small meals).

While barley is very nostalgic, it is obviously not a choice for the gluten-free part of this team, so I used pearl rice instead (which just won over hato mugi, another gluten-free barley-like grain). Maybe I have a bias, but I am sure this worked even better!

 

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 zucchini, chopped

3 bunches celery, chopped

1/2 cup of pearl rice

1 tbsp powdered veggie stock

salt & pepper (I use the ratio 1:10)

 

Fry the onion, carrot, zucchini, and celery for about five minutes, just until softened.

Add three cups of hot tap water, the rice, veggie stock, salt, and pepper (temperature should be high).

After boiling, turn the temperature to the low, and continue to stir frequently for thirty-five minutes (adding more water if required).

Serve, and enjoy!

Gluten-Free Vegan Spring-Rolls

It has been way too long since I've had a spring roll. Two years? Three? Four? I've known about Coeliac disease for four years, but I am pretty sure I stole one or two during my first year after the diagnosis (which is far worse for me than I'll ever realise!)

Spring rolls are a complete nostalgia trip. As a child, I would get vegetarian rolls from the King's View Chinese restaurant at Riverwood, and they were an especially special treat, right up there with birthday cake and Easter eggs.

I've heard about people making spring rolls using regular old rice paper wraps, but when I tried baking and shallow-frying, it didn't seem to work. That only left one alternative before giving up completely: the deep fryer. And not only did it work, it was superb.

You'll need two tablespoons of filling and two rice wraps per spring roll (the latter will not only provide a thicker layer, but will help keep the form).

For my filling, I used fresh garlic and ginger with a little sesame oil, shittake mushrooms, and peanut-meat. I had to whip it up in a rush, so next time I would make something a little more vegetable centric (we did serve this alongside an exclusively vegetable stir-fry, so don't worry).

If you have the time, I would recommend Lauren Ulm's recipe for the Chinese Broccoli Wonton (filling only, and using mushrooms in place of seitan). This is a hearty recipe that I have used in all my attempts for spring roll filling, and it has always been great (even if my pastry attempts were sub-par).

 

- Get a shallow, wide bowl and fill it with hot tap water

- Submerge two rice paper rolls at a time, until they are soft (about thirty seconds)

- Fold the horizontal sides over, then the bottom, then roll up (wrap them as tight as possible, as they will attempt to unfurl during the cooking process)

- Repeat with the remaining rice paper rolls and filling

- Deep-fry for them for about ten minutes each (our deep-fryer fits about four at a time, which just leaves enough space so they aren't touching.) If they touch, they will stick, so be careful.

- Pat dry with paper towels and allow to cool slightly before serving

Over-all, these were fantastic, but Pete was not fond of them. Realistically, if you can eat the gluten ones, eat them, because these aren't the golden deliciousness that is gluten, and they never will be. However, if you're Coeliac / gluten-intolerant, and it has been a while, these are nothing short of a gift from the gods. Enjoy!

Reading Challenge (August 31 - September 07)

These are the books for this weeks reading challenge! They'll be over on the book blog throughout the week (more towards the weekend!)